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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

There’s actually a photo of Michael Hutchence holding an INXS fan club newsletter with the cover I drew. Snicker if you will, but back in 83/84 they were it for me. There was a newness and a rawness to them in the “Shabooh Shoobah” era that really got me—which didn’t slither fully into that LP’s follow up “The Swing.” Nevertheless, INXS was on heavy rotation.

As I’ve remarked before, songs or LPs are like little pin-pricks of memories for me. In particular for whatever reason, I’m reminded of a mid-June afternoon as school was winding down. We were on half days then and I had come home just before lunch time.

My dad was off at work and mom was standing in front of the bathroom mirror in our coral green bathroom, WCBS newsradio on, cig churning in the ashtray, and we just had a chat. About which I don’t actually recall, just the visual lingers, and afterward I headed down to my little artist studio in the basement where the stereo and the LPs were and grooved on track one, side two of ‘The Swing’ - ‘Johnson’s Airplane.’

‘Four long lines one darker than the restEach one has a purpose making borders on the landFarmer's pride you know he works real hardFrom a small aeroplane you can see the fields...’

Last night when I arrived home the phones were ringing like mad. The cell, the house, the cell, the house. The care manager I’ve hired for my mom was trailing the ambulance with her inside as they careened to the emergency room. Mom, at 84 now, had taken a tumble in the kitchen and was knocked unconscious and passed out and had remained on the tile floor until the aide returned that evening to prepare dinner.

Ultimately she became lucid but had a number of pains and precautions were warranted so strapped to the gurney she was and zipped across town to the hospital.

I inhabit pin-pricks of pin-pricks of memories as new ones manifest from the same source material.

‘Four long years one leaner than the restThe animals are thin and the pasture's dryFarmer's pride if the weather doesn't lieFrom a small aeroplane you can see the seaLots of blue very deep blue...’